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Topic: NHL 2006-07 (Read 15906 times)

I'm surprised the Pens/San Jose game didn't produce more injuries than it did... That was one of the most physically brutal games I've seen in the past 3 years, especially involving the Penguins... Just ugly. A boarding call 15 seconds in... fights after every whistle it seemed. Made it a tough loss to choke down too.

On my Pittsburgh Sports recap tonight, I'm still lovin' watching the Pens despite a ****** slide they had for a handful of games... They're back to a couple wins, one against the Rangers who came in and were playing like madmen. Jagr was feeding off boos in the arena which I thought were sort of stupid of our fans but what am I gonna do about it I guess? There's definitely a lot of anymosity towards him though.

It's been a fun year for hockey here so far though and the Pens are doing ok. This week are the hearings on who gets the slots license in Pitt though, so this is gonna be a big time determining what the Penguin's future is with this city.

I love that there's a group of people from the "Hill District" which is where the current arena is located at, that are protesting the Slots Parlor going into their community. They cite that they don't want the negatives that come with gambling entering their community, such as addiction, crime, and such... The Hill District is one of the most crime ridden communities in Pittsburgh where shootings are a daily occurance, drugs run rampant... Seems to me that crime and addiction are all they have now. God forbid some $$$ get dumped into the ****hole you live in for fear of it corrupting your youth. *sigh*

I went to see the Wild get their asses handed to them against the Red Wings tonight...

Man did the Wild just look tired and flat. It was a really ugly game, and the final score showed it Detroit 3, MN 0) .

On the "wow" side of the game, Lidstrom had a blistering PP goal from the point - it must have hit the back of the net at 100+ MPH, that thing just flew off the stick and locked up Manny right where he stood (I don't think Fernandez ever even saw it coming).

Pens are on a seriously annoying skid of late... Tonight they lost in OT to the Rangers and I've come to just loathe seeing us get into a shootout because, while I love Fleury, he's not holding up well in shootout situations at all.

The real annoying thing for me though is how close the Pens are... I mean, they're in tight games, lots of OT games, and not getting the W. On a bright note, the last game with the Panthers and tonight's with the Rangers both yielded some of the best goals of the season I've seen from any team, both from Sidney Crosby, and both the kind of goals that make your jaw hit the floor and remind you why you love hockey.

The Pens need to get their **** together, get a win, and get back on track or it's gonna be a tough row for sure.

They let LeClair loose too... Your mention of youth made me think of that actually Brent. It went by with very little fan-fare in the news here actually, but I have to imagine it's intensely ego-bruising for LeClair to get sent down to a lower level but he's just not been producing, once again. Last year at the end of the season he was reliable but once again he's started off like **** and just not gotten in any good game play so far. Recchi's not been lighting the lamp much, but he's still out there working hard while Le Claire just looked flat most of the time, and sloppy in his own end.

Of perhaps interest to Brent and some others, Pittsburgh's slots license news is in and the Penguins plan did NOT get the slots license... Bettman released a statement today saying the Pen's future in Pitt is in question now, as did anyone else involved with the Pens on any level...

Oddly enough, the slots license didn't go to the place most people thought it was going to... It went to the North Shore which is the area where Heinz Field and PNC Park both rest with a large space between... If my understanding is correct it would go between the stadiums (the irony of a gambling hall between NFL and MLB stadiums has no limits to me ) and on the water of one of the 3 rivers (Ohio River). It looks pretty in designs but to be honest this is probably as dumb a place for something as putting it across the river at STation Square, but at least traffic won't be a problem over at the N. Shore like it would've been at Station Square...

Now, the city is scrambling to emphasize that there is a "Plan B" for a new Pen's Arena and that they will do something to keep the Pens in town... That said, the othere things of note are that there are 2 billionaires from Canada who've said they're interested and guaranteed keeping it in Pittsburgh and would pay for an arena with private funds (this all just came up this week though, so not much is known on what their offer is). The other possible wild card is there's a PIttsburgh born rich guy that owns an NBA team and such, and he's wanted a PItt sports team for ages and said openly back in October that he regretted not bidding on the Pens, and he'd keep them here obviously, so he's now I would think making a move for the team...

The supposed buyer obvious backed out, I'm sure you heard about that Brent, but to be honest I think the way he backed out that he was never wanting to keep them here anyway, I dunno. Seemed fishy when the NHL told him basically he had to keep them here that he suddenly got cold feet on buying them.

Anyway, some news there... Not good either.

I still can't get over the people in the Hiill District that had the huge brass balls to say they didn't want the Penguin's casino to open in their area because it would be crime and addiction... The Hill District is the single worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh, and they fear crime from a casino would ruin their neighborhood... I am still in awe at the stupidity of the morons I saw protesting leading up to the slots decision.

Anyway, I'm bummed, and I've got a million and one other problems in my life right now too, but this really capped off a day of pure and utter ****, so I'm really pissed off.

Now, I'm sure he's just saying what he thinks he needs to say to get the Pitt people moving, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised at this point to see them move.

It sucks if that ends up happening to the Pens, Jesse. I know the pain of losing a team (though thankfully, we got ours back - Sorry, Brent ). It sucks ass because as a regular guy, there's not a whole lot you can do and the future of your team is in the hands of billionaires and government jerks.

Still hope that those morons can get things straightened out... though they do look pretty stupid for turning down private cash to build the stadium and will now have to burden the tax-payers with it to get it done.

Thanks Jeff... I'm bummed. I mean, yesterday's news just capped off one of the shittiest months of my life in general I think... I didn't need the slots news though I shouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. The asswipes out in Harrisburg could give a **** about the Penguin's and Pittsburgh... To them it's all about tickling the balls of others I think and Isle of Capri wasn't tickling the right set I guess.

That said, the hopes are alive... Lemieux said he was going to talk with the local leaders first, see what they can get going, but I think it's pretty obvious that anything short of a new stadium paid for by anyone BUT the Pens is how Lemieux wants it since that's what he'd have had with the slots license... That said, there are two possible positives.

Mark Cuban (the Pittsburgher who owns some NBA team) is supposedly putting together a team to buy the Pen's, or make an offer at least, and keep the team in town... That and those 2 Canucklehead billionaires who own some brewer up there (Brent, you know who I mean at all?) said they wanted to build a new arena 100% with private funds, and keep the team in Pittsburgh, and sponsor it with their brewery and stuff... To me that sound ideal if it's true and hell I'd change to Canadian beer for it even.

I have so many other problems of my own that I'm not even thinking about this thing all that much... It's bothering me at the thought of not having hockey here anymore. At the same time though, **** happens... The NHL knows our market puts fans in the seats, even in our down times, and that we can't even maximize our utility due to the small arena we have now... Also our TV market here is strong and the Pens pull in great ratings... If we lost our team to KC though... that's sad.

Great game tonight between the Pens and Toronto... Man, there was a fantastic fight in it too. Real end-to-end action though with great goaltending keeping it tight till it opened up in the third. It was a great way to end '06 though for a Pen's fan.

I wouldn't put them down too much considering they had a lot out of their line-up last night, but McAbe's flub in front of the net against Staal was bush league at best... **** happens though too, and everyone has a bad night. They were holding it together till halfway in the 3rd or so and then it collapsed and the Pen's played 60 minutes of strong hockey with game-saving goaltending too.

Our D is weak and it shows in every game really. It could've easily gone the other way.

Lots O Leaves in town for the game last night too... I'm always surprised because Toronto isn't a hop skip and jump away really.

There was some bad press about the Pens up North, so it was nice from a Pen's fan's perspective to stick it to the Leafs though. I think sometimes the Canadian Press takes the hatred of U.S. teams a bit too far, and they start clumping good hockey towns like Pittsburgh in with Carolina, Phoenix, and Florida where the only "OOOO's" you ever hear in a game are from hits.